Conductor carrying means



y 1943- J. E. HUGUELET 2,318,859 I C CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC NS 4 Sheets-Sheet l May 11, 1943.

J. E. HUGUELET CONDUCTOR CARRYING MEANS Filed March 29, 1941 IIGLZH.

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 m. m a n m 2 8 6 J m 9 y 4 5 2 a I r u 9 4 H 2 1 -E 4 a up 2 n 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 J. E. HUGUELET CONDUCTOR CARRYING MEANS Filed March 29, 1941 i H l R? May 11, 1943.

Patented May 11,1943

CONDUCTOR CARRYING MEANS John E. Huguelet, Mount Lebanon, Pa., assignor to National Electric Products Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application March 29, 1941, Serial No. 385,911

7 Claims. .(Cl. 248-68) This invention relates to an electrical distribution system. and relates moreparticularly to the support of bus-bars in an electrical distribution system which comprises bus-bars imposed to carry electrical current in factories and other buildings.

Electrical systems of this sort are mounted from structural elements of the building in which the system is used, or from other supporting structures within the building. It is desirable inmounting the bus-bars forming the conductors of the system "that the bus-bar supports be functionally integral elements, which may be directly attached to the building structure, or to other suitable supporting structures, rather than that the bus installation as a whole be inter-dependent in its mounted assembly. When functionally integral bus-bar supports are used, it becomes optional in accordance with the location of the busbars and the conditions of their use, whether they be enclosed in a housing, whether simple protective screening be used, or whether the bus-bars be permitted to remain exposed.

It is the object of my invention to provide, in a system of the designated sort, a bus support which is simple in arrangement; which carries and structurally protects insulating members having direct contact with the bus-bars; which is adjustable tcsupport bus-bars of diflerent width without changing the insulating members which are in direct contact with the bus-bars; and which comprises a frame so constructed that it may be adjusted to different widths of bus-bar without disturbing its protective relation to the insulating members with which it is associated, and without removing the insulating members from the frame.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. I is an isometric view, showing bus-bar supports attached to hangers for mounted installation, and bus-bars resting in the bus-bar supports. a 1

Fig. 11 is a detail isometric view of one bus-bar support, showing the insulating members which direcrttiy contact bus-bars mounted by the sup- 1 Fig. 111 is a plan view of one of the bus-bar supports, showing screen members, which may be used alone or as the side elements of a complete housing connected with the bus-bar supports.

Fig. IV is a vertical sectional view 'across'the major dimension of one of the supports, taken on the section line Iii-IV of Fig. 111.-

Fig. V is a vertical sectional view across the minor dimension of one of the supports, taken on the section line V-V of Fig. 111.

I Fig. VI is a vertical sectional 'view taken through the bus-bar support on the same plane as that on whichFig. IV is taken, but showing a modified arrangement'of insulating bus-bar contacting members.

Fig. VII is a front elevation of the connecting plate or strap which I incorporate in the frame structureof my bus-bar support, to serve as the base element for making adjustment of the frame in accommodation to the width of bus-bars carried by the support.

Fig. VIII is a front elevational view showing the connecting plate or strap of Fig. VII, and showing in broken lines two frame elements of the support attached to the connecting strap Figs. VIII and IX but illustrating an attachment of the frame elements to the connecting strap to give an adjustment intermediate those illustrated Referring first to Fig. I of the drawings, reference numeral 2 designates generally the bus-bar supports which are attached to hangers 3 for mounted installation. The bus-bars 4 are composed of initially separate and relatively flat lengthsof conductive metal, and these lengths are interconnected by bolts 5 in well-known manner to form continuous electrically conductive paths. The bus-bars l are shown as double, in accordance with a practice common in electrical installations of this sort, when not organized for the use of current take-off devices.

Each of the bus-bar supports 2 comprises two frame sections 6 and I, which are interconnected by connecting members providing for relative adjustment of the frame sections, and which con necting members carry the attaching means for mounting the bus-bar .supports. Each of the frame sections 6 and l of the'bus-bar support consists of a base at both ends of which side walls extend at right angles. Both the base and side walls ofeach of the frame sections have flanges I which, when the sections are interconnected, extend inwardly into the enclosure of the support to protect insulating members of frangible material mounted in the frame structure of the support. Desirably, the frame sections of the bus-bar supports are made of forged, or formed, metal, but may be composed of. any material which is suiliciently tough and rigid to be suitable for the purpose.

In these rigid mounting and protective frame tacting and. engaging the bus-bars are mounted.

ilar brittle material.

ings, a row of three insulating members 9 is mounted in the frame section 6, and a row of three insulating members .IO is mounted in the 1 frame section 1. The insulating members on one frame section are mounted in opposition to those I on the other section, and each of the insulating members has therein a seat II to receive one of the bus-bars 4.

Since in my bus-bar support adjustability to ac.-

commodate for difi'erent'widths of bus-bar is otherwise provided, the insulating members are rigidlymounted on the frame sections which carry them. This mounting may consist of bolts threaded into insert sleeves set in'sockets in the insulators, or may be bolts sealed into sockets in the insulators by means of lead, sulphur, or other suitable cementing material. Both of these modes of attaching bolts and screws to insulators are well known and may desirably be employed if the insulators are composed of porcelain or sim- I prefer, however, to mount the insulators in the frame sections of the, support in the manner particularly disclosed and claimed in my co-pending application Serial No.

385,913 filed March 29, 1941, issued as Patent No.

1,303,913 dated December 1, 1942. In this mounting the insulating members are madeof some suitable molding composition which has sufficient toughness to sustain the cutting of threads. As shown, screws I2 are directly threaded into the insulating members, and their heads lie against Y the outer surface of the base portions of the two frame sections.

The bus assembly illustrated as exemplary of my invention, being of the feeder type, and the bus-bars 4 being shown as double or two-unit bus-bars, I show novel means for positioning the bus-bars, and spacingthe bus-bar units in the insulators. These means are metallic spacer members I3 of primarily U-shape, the bases of which lie in seats ll of insulators it. Each of the spacers embraces both of the bus-bar units, and has outwardly extended tangs l4 which enter recesses in the insulator body.- Inwardly extended tangs l5 lie between. the two bus-bar units to prevent them from falling toward each other.

If single bus-bars areused, one of the tangs I5 at each end of the bus-bar can cooperate with one leg of the U-shape body of the spacer to hold the bus-bar in position in a wide insulator seat, so that if desired the capacity of the system may be increased by the addition of a second unit in each bus-bar i without otherwise changing the structure. Both sets of tangs l4 and [5 may, as

shown, be struck from the metal of thespacer base.

Adjustability inthe frame structure of the support is obtained by makingthe two frame sections 6 and I relatively adjustable toward and from each other with respect to connecting members I which provide a basis for the adjustment. Thus,

the side walls l6 of the frame section 6 and side walls 81 of frame section 1 are engageable in various adjusted positions with respect to two conneoting straps, or plates, 58. For this adjustment both side walls l6 and I! of each of the frame sections is provided with three countersunk screw holes i9a, lsband 59c which are arranged in triangular pattern. As standard busbars currently vary in width by one-half inch, the screw holes are (in current manufacture) arranged to give quarter inch adjustments of each frame section, in accordance with the hole which is used to connect each of the frame sections with its associated connecting strap 18. Each conthe frame elements with the connecting strap are 10 straddled by the'adjacent side walls of the frame elements. In Fig. VIII attaching screws 2! are inserted through screw holes 19a of each of the frame elementsto engage in one of the tapped holes 20 in each aligned pair in the connecting strap. The screw holes l9a being the outermost holes in the side wall with respect to the center line of the connecting strap, this attachment brings the opposed edges lfia and Ha of the walls close together, and gives the closest relative position of the bases of the frame elements and the insulating members which they carry." This adjustment is thus for'the narrowest bus-bars for which accommodation is provided.

, In Fig. IX the attaching screws are inserted through screw holes 190, which He closest the opposed edges Na and Ila of the frame elements,

into one of each pair of tapped holes 20 in the connecting strap.- This separates the frame ele-' ments, and the insulating members they carry, the maximum distance provided, and makes accommodation to the widest bus-bars for which the frame structure of thebus-bar support. is organized.

In Fig. X the attaching screws 2| are inserted through holes i9b of the frame elements into two of -the holes 20 of the connecting strap, to give an adjustment suitable for bus-bars of intermediate width.

As above noted, each of the connecting strap l8 carries two stud bolts 22, which are riveted to, or otherwise fixed to, each connecting strap in spaced relation longitudinally of the strap; and the threaded shanks of which project. through slots 23 extended from the adjacent edges of the side walls Iii-and ll of the frame elements.

By means of nuts 24 threaded on the shanks of bolts 22, hangers 3 may be connected to the bus-bar support, as in Fig. I, for mounting it to a suitable mounting structure. It will be noted that mounting connection for the bus assembly is thus made to one or both of the connecting straps l8, and that it is independent of the ad justment between frame sections l6 and IT. Adjustment in accommodation to different widths of bus-bar is thus made without changing the relative position of the bolts 22 on each of the connecting straps. I

Bolts 22 and nuts 24 may also be used to mount screening, or protective structure, for the bus-bars on the bus-bar supports. As shown, two metallic side plates, or strips, 25 are mounted onthe bus-bar supports in this manner. These 1 side plates may be used alone, or'as'the side I walls of a complete housing structure, "such? as the housing disclosed in my co-pen'ding ape.

plication Serial No. 385,912,1ild' March 29, 1941. In the modification shown in Fig. VI; an indi-f vidual pair of insulatingmembers is not'pr'o-I vided for each of the bus -barsfbut on'the' contrary two relatively long insulating members 26 are used. Since these two insulating members are likewise oppositely mounted on the two sec-' tions of the support frame, with the bus-barseats 21 in the two insulating members arranged in opposition to each other, the effect is identical the limits of those same may be made without with the use of smaller insulating members arranged in an opposed pair for each bus-bar of the installation, save that greater manufacturing convenience and structural rigidity is obtained.

It is to be understood that the bus-bar supports are individual self-contained elements of the installation, and that they may be mounted on appropriately placed structures, and the busbars inserted for support by them at the place of installation. Alternatively, if so desired, they may be provided in assembly lengths, with duct or other suitable screening structure in initial attachment to the bus-bar supports, and with, or W'ithout the initial association of appropriate lengths of bus-bar.

It will be readily seen from the foregoing that each of the self-contained frames is adjustable to different widths of bus-bar by means included in the structure of the frame itself. It is therefore unnecessary to disturb the mounting of the insulating members in the frame structure of the bus-bar support, or to change the size of the insulating members, in accommodation to different widths of bus-bar.

It is particularly to be noted that the bolts for attaching housirm plates, or screens, and

hangers for mounting the assembly, to the busbar supports, are fixed to the connecting straps of the frame structure in definite spaced relationto each other. Also it is unnecessary to change the connecting straps in adjusting the frame of the bus-bar support to accommodate bus-bars of different width. In remaking the assembly after an adjustment of the frame, the same bolt-holes in the' side plates and hangers that were used before the adjustment are, therefore. still appropriate, and no diiliculty is met in realigning the elements the installation. In this connection it will be noted that the adjustment in the frame of the bus-bar supports may be made without dii'ference in the size or structure of side plates carried by them. Thus if the side walls shown in the walls of a housing. all the adjustments which are shown and described may be made within walls.

Another advantage of my arrangement is that the means. providing adjustment between the frame elements of the bus-bar support is included in the structural arrangement of the frame. without projection into the space bounded by the frame in which the insulating members and bus-bars lie. There is. therefore. no intrusion of of the permits those changeable in their assembly with the perforate connecting straps. This facilitates both manufacture and use of the bus-bar supports.

It is to be understood that many changes in the form andv arrangement of the parts of which the above described assembly is made. and the material of which they are composed. going beyondthe bounds of my invention, and my invention is therefore to be limited in scope only by the bounds of the claims appended hereto.

I claim as my invention:

1'. A conductor-carrying and conductor-embracing structure comprising two bracket sections elements to be identical, and interv straps overlapping corresponding legs of the redrawings are the side having opposed conductor-engaging faces and legs extended from the said face of each section toward the other of the two bracket sections, and connector members arranged cooperatively to engage with the legs of the two said bracket sections in a plurality of definitely spaced positions of the bracket sections on the connector members to provide adjusted spacing of the said conductorengaging faces toward and from each other.

2. A conductor-carrying and conductor-embracing structure comprising two bracket sections having opposed conductor-engaging faces and each having less extended from its said conductor-engaging face toward the other said sec tion, connector straps cooperatively organized with the legs of the two bracket sections and means for connecting the legs of the bracket sections to the said straps in a plurality of adjusted positions of the said sections toward and away from each other.

3. A conductor-supporting and conductor-embracing structure comprising two bracket sections facing each other, and two connector members en aged therewith. the two said connectors and at least one of the said bracket sections being provided with enga ing means effective in a plurality of determined adjusted positions of the bracket section on the connectors.

' 4. A conductor-supporting and conductor-embracing structure comprising opposed U-shaped bracket sections having flat legs. fiat connector straps arranged in face to face relation with the corresponding legs of the respective bracket sections, and means for engaging the legs of the bracket sections with the respective-connector straps in diiferent adjusted positions of the bracket sections along the connector straps.

5., A conductor=supporting and conductor-embracin structure comprising opposed U-shaped bracket sections having slotted legs, connector spective bracket sections, mounting studs extended from the connector straps through the slots of the legs, and means for engaging the legs of the bracket sections with the respective connector straps in different adjusted positions along the connector straps.

6. A conductor-carrying and conductor-embracing structure adapted for spaced mounting in a plural assembly of like structures in direct supporting relation along the bin-bars of an electrical distribution system, comprising two rigid bracket sections. connector elements interenglsing the two said bracket secflons. and attachment means for attachment of a mounting hanger carried by at least one connector element so that mounting attachment of the structure is unaflected by relative positioning of the two said bracket sections. I

'I. A conductor-carrying and conductor-embracing structure adapted for spaced moimting in;a plural assembly of like structures in direct supporting relation along the bus-bars of an electrical distribution system, comprising two rigid bracket sections, two rigid connector elements eatending in spacing relation therebetween. integrating means securing the said bracket sections 

